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Abu Ali Abdur Rahman
saadia
04/09/02 at 11:21:47
Salaam Alaikum everyone,

I got this from www.imamjamil.com---

Help stop Abu Ali Abdur Rahman's April 10, 2002 execution

Abu Ali Abdur Rahman, a 51-year-old Muslim, is scheduled to die on April 10,
2002 in Tennessee for a crime his lawyers, supporters and critical evidence
indicate he did not commit. Amnesty International has issued an urgent alert to
save his life
<http://web.amnesty.org/web/wwa.nsf/70475c6a6bece6f980256773004abe57/a8f7caa58068062280256b64005aecab!OpenDocument>.

Abdur-Rahman who is part African-American, part Cherokee, will be put to death
by lethal injection for the February 1986 murder of Patrick Daniels, a drug
dealer.

If the execution goes through, he will be the first African-American in 25 years
to be executed by the state since Tennessee's current capital punishment law
came into effect in 1977.

At the time of the murder, which took place in Nashville, Abdur Rahman, then
known as James Lee Jones, was part of a group that aimed to help
African-Americans rid themselves and their communities of drugs and crime.

Read more about him @ <http://www.soundvision.com/info/justice/ali.asp>

*** What you can do

Abdur Rahman's lawyers and supporters are asking that concerned citizens appeal
for clemency to Tennessee Governor Don Sundquist. His contacts are:

Address:
Governor Don Sundquist
State Capitol
Nashville, TN 37243
Fax: 615 532 1353
E-mail: dsundquist@mail.state.tn.us
NS
Re: Abu Ali Abdur Rahman
Mohja
04/09/02 at 11:39:52
U.S. Supreme Court halts execution

[url=http://www.tennessean.com/execution/archives/02/04/15921232.shtml?Element_ID=15921232]Copyright: The Tennessean[/url]

By JOHN SHIFFMAN
Staff Writer


U.S. Supreme Court justices will meet Friday in private conference to consider the fate of convicted murderer Abu-Ali Abdur'Rahman, whose execution they halted yesterday — just 36 hours before his scheduled lethal injection.

Yesterday's order from Washington, which put the brakes on Tennessee's second execution in 42 years, did not explain the court's interest in the case.

But Abdur'Rahman's appeal asks for a hearing on prosecutorial misconduct allegations. Defense lawyers say misconduct tainted the 1987 trial, distorting the true nature of the crime and Abdur'Rahman's mental history. Prosecutors say they acted properly.

''We're very grateful that the U.S. Supreme Court wants to look at our case,'' defense attorney Brad MacLean said. ''Finally, we may be getting the kind of relief we have been asking for.''

In lower federal courts, prosecutors have successfully argued that procedural rules prohibit further hearings. Tennessee Attorney General Paul Summers would not comment yesterday.

''This is just part of the process,'' Davidson County District Attorney General Torry Johnson said.

If the U.S. Supreme Court decides Friday not to take the case, the Tennessee Supreme Court would set a new execution date.

Shawanna Norman, the daughter of a victim, expressed anger at yesterday's decision. ''I can't believe it,'' she said. She would not elaborate.

Abdur'Rahman, meanwhile, ''couldn't speak'' when he first got the news, defense investigator Mickell Branham said.

''He almost collapsed and caught himself. Then, there was a long silence.''

Abdur'Rahman, who had been fasting, celebrated with a chocolate cupcake and a Coke, said Linda Manning, his spiritual adviser. He had been moved early Sunday from his death row cell to a special cell adjacent to the execution chamber. Three hours after the stay yesterday, he was moved back.

Abdur'Rahman, formerly James Lee Jones, was sentenced to death in 1987 for killing Patrick Daniels, a Nashville marijuana dealer. Daniels' girlfriend, Norma Norman, was seriously injured.

On appeal, the defense said the jury received an incomplete picture of Abdur'Rahman because his trial lawyers barely investigated his past and because prosecutors withheld evidence of mental illness.

In 1998, a federal judge threw out Abdur'Rahman's death sentence, concluding his lawyers' failure to tell jurors about Abdur'Rahman's childhood and mental history was ''a miscarriage of justice.'' In 2000, a federal appeals court disagreed and voted 2-1 to reinstate the death sentence.

Since then, eight of the original 12 jurors have signed affidavits saying that hearing about Abdur'Rahman's mental history and childhood at trial probably would have made a difference at sentencing.

In the appeal the justices will consider Friday, the defense wants the nation's highest court to order a hearing on certain prosecutorial misconduct claims.

These allegations have not been weighed on their merits in federal court. Citing procedural rules, lower federal courts have said these claims were forfeited when they weren't raised in a key state appeal.

Relevant state procedural rules have since changed, but a federal law blocks new appeals. Defense lawyers argue that this is unfair and that if they had brought these accusations now, instead of in 1998, courts would at least consider them.

The misconduct claims include allegations that the prosecutor in the case, Assistant District Attorney General John Zimmermann, withheld information from the defense regarding Abdur'Rahman's mental health. The defense said trial lawyers could have used this to help convince the jury that Abdur'Rahman didn't deserve death.

In one allegation, the defense says, the prosecutor told the trial judge that he had no information Abdur'Rahman might be mentally ill, when his own files showed the opposite — including notes that insanity might be a mitigating factor. Prosecutors call this baseless. Their files show evidence of personality disorder, not mental illness, they say, and related notes reflect preliminary strategy issues, not conclusions.

In interviews and clemency documents, Zimmermann has denied any wrongdoing.

Before yesterday's U.S. Supreme Court order, Davidson County Circuit Judge Walter Kurtz held a two-hour hearing to consider whether he should stay the execution in order to consider new defense claims.

Among other things, the defense wants Kurtz to consider challenges to the state's lethal injection process and to re-evaluate the defense trial lawyers' work.

After the U.S. Supreme Court stay, Kurtz delayed a ruling.


Re: Abu Ali Abdur Rahman
sofia
04/09/02 at 11:51:20
Alhamdulillah.

:)

Saadia, where have you been??  Ahlan wa sahlan, sheeesh.

Re: Abu Ali Abdur Rahman
saadia
04/09/02 at 13:12:51
Salaams,

did u misssssssssssssss meeeeeeeeeee??? he he he  ;D  

Alhumdulillah, that's great news about halting the execution! Keep e mailing or writing them anyway!!!


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